Sex Sells, Pt. 1

"S.E.X. Take a deep breath and think before you let it go."

-- 'S.E.X' by Lyfe Jennings

The song 'S.E.X.' by Lyfe Jennings is possibly the only song I know (and I know a lot of songs) that tells you to think before you "give it up" to someone. In our society, a lot of songs are about having sex. These songs usually degrade women and make sex something dirty. And sex shouldn't be a dirty thing, especially when it's done in the right circumstances. I believe in waiting until you get married to have sex -- not just because it's the "Christian thing to do", but because a girl's/woman's virginity is really something special. It's something that you can only give away once, and it really is the ultimate gift you could give someone. I go to a church camp every summer, and last summer when everyone was leaving, some counselors (all male counselors) and older students (all female students) stayed behind and talked to the younger students (a mix of male and female) who weren't leaving for awhile. They started talking about how your virginity is the ultimate gift that you could give any guy and how if you give your virginity away before you get married, you really have nothing to give your husband. I had never really thought of it that way, but I realized that what they said was true. Even in the world of prostitution, a lot of customers pay more for younger girls who claim to still have their virginity (sometimes these claims are lies).

Now, I'm really not trying to put down people who have sex before they're married. But if you are my age (around fifteen years old) and think that you are ready, I ask you this question. Are you emotionally and financially ready to accept the consequences, whether good or bad? If the answer is no, then I really think that you are not ready to have sex. Even though it may not exactly seem like it in the society that we live in, sex is a really big deal. And no, everyone else is not doing it. I actually know a lot of teenagers (not to mention adults) who look down on young people who have sex. And it's not because people are against them. People simply don't think that most teenagers are ready for the responsibility that comes with having sex. And yes, I do understand that it is not the 1940s and people don't have sex just to have kids anymore. But regardless, you still need to be ready and responsible.

In America, people get nervous when sex is talked about, even more nervous when the urge is acted upon, and most conversations where it is talked about are just awkward, to put it simply. Teenagers who haven't had sex tend to be really sexual, and say really sexual things because it's basically a foreign and unknown territory to them. People who have had sex just want to keep it on the DL (well, some people...), and would rather not talk about it or anything related to it. And I ask, why is sex always depicted in the media? Songs, books, movies, television shows. It's hard to go through your day without seeing anything about sex. Why is that? And why is it considered a dirty thing, and not something sweet that is shared between two people who love each other?

Maybe it's because we've made it into a dirty thing, and it's not always between two (...or three, or four) people who love each other...

Stay tuned for Part Two.